


Little Hatchling

by Tenebrais



Category: Kiwi Blitz (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, Next Generation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 09:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30070479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tenebrais/pseuds/Tenebrais
Summary: Twenty-five years in the future, long after Steffi hung up her helmet, her daugher, now a teenager herself, starts poking around in the family history.Featuring a couple of Sleepless Domain expies. For symmetry!
Kudos: 6





	Little Hatchling

"Where are going?" Roni whispered.  
Debbi put her finger to her lips. "Don't wake mom and dad", she whispered back.  
Roni rolled her eyes. Debbi had been teasing her about this secret she'd discovered in her house for a week. She didn't want to explain it, she could only _show_ her, and it had to be at a sleepover. She really didn't have to go to these lengths to get her to stay over, they'd been friends since they were seven!  
She didn't exactly disbelieve her either, though. Debbi's grandpa was CEO of Mecha Machen, and while her mom was now a very skilled, professional (and - she would admit this only in the privacy of her own head - totally beautiful) senior engineer in the company, everyone said she was kind of a wild child in her youth. And on top of that there were rumours she had been friends with 42, the robot activist, back in those days too. It was _totally possible_ there were cool secrets in this house.  
And only Debbi could make that more annoying than exciting.

Debbi stopped at a door that looked no different from any other, except for a discreet keyhole under the handle. She pulled a small set of lockpicks out of the sleeve of her Heartful Punch pyjamas (she had _way_ too much merch of that show) and started to poke around in it.  
She quietly unlatched the lock and opened the door. Behind it wasn't a room, but a narrow staircase, leading up into the roof.  
"I didn't know you had an attic," Roni whispered.  
"Neither did I!" Debbi whispered back. "But check out what's in it!"

Debbi fumbled around for the light switch. This wasn't the normal arrangement of old furniture and christmas decorations you'd find in a normal attic. This looked more like a control centre. A desk with a computer stood on one side, with three screens and an array of notes stuck all around. Across from it, a drafting table covered in sketches and designs. And against the far wall, a rack proudly displaying a suit of green armour.  
"Holy shit," Roni whispered.  
"Isn't it _cool_?" Debbi said excitedly. "It's like mom was some kinda superhero!"  
As Roni looked closely, she saw everything was covered in a layer of dust. "This stuff looks like it's been here years..." Something on the design board caught her eye. "Wait. Do you think that's... the _kiwi bot_?"  
"The what now?" Debbi said.  
"Do you remember that one time we went to a party at Rue's house? And her dad told this story of when he was still a beat cop and got put in an animal cage by a gang of furries?"  
Debbi snorted. "That was such a dumb story!"  
"Yeah, I thought he was joking too, but... he talked about how it was all about some sort of kiwi mech, right? And how the kids who owned it had to come rescue him and stuff? You don't think... your parents..."  
Debbi broke out laughing. "No way!"

She stepped up to the armour. "Doesn't this look cool, though? All green and stuff. It's like it was made for me!" She fiddled with her green-dyed hair, as if to make the point.  
"I don't think your pigtails would fit under the helmet," Roni smirked.  
Debbi stuck her tongue out. "It'll fit me just fine, it's gotta! Come on, I wanna try it on."  
_"Debbi Frohlich!"_  
Both girls turned sharply to the door. There was Mrs Frohlich, wrapped up in her dressing gown, looking furious.  
"How many times have I told you not to touch this door?" she scolded. "And Roni... I expected better from you."  
Roni looked at the floor, feeling deeply ashamed.  
"But _mom_ , Debbi whined. "Why didn't you tell me about any of this?"  
"And what would you have done with it if I had?" Steffi asked.  
"Um... tell everyone how awesome my mom is?" Debbi said, saccharine.  
" _Exactly_ ," Steffi said. "This stuff is supposed to be a _secret_. And the first thing you do is go showing it off to your friends."  
"Is it true, though?" Debbi asked. "That you had a big kiwi mech and fought criminals and stuff?"  
Steffi sighed. "It's a long story. Maybe it's time I did tell you... but not tonight. Later. When your papi can be there too."  
" _Dad_ was involved?" Debbi blurted out. Roni couldn't help but agree - mister Frohlich had always seemed totally straight-laced and a little bit stressed every time she'd met him. She couldn't imagine him doing any sort of vigilante hero stuff.  
"It wouldn't even have started without Ben," Steffi said with a wistful smile. "But that's got to wait. Go on, you two should be in the bed. It's two in the morning. You should at least be _pretending_ to be asleep."

Once she'd successfully shepherded the girls out of the attic, Steffi turned and looked back at her old Blitz gear. It really was a shame she hadn't managed to keep Kiwibot. But a promise was a promise.  
The old armour seemed so small now. It probably _would_ fit Debbi. Had she really been that young? She didn't feel like a child at the time, but looking back on it...  
She knew her daughter. It would only be a matter of time before she was back here, no matter what she said. And she would probably test it out, too. Always pushing her luck like that. She was always getting herself into trouble. Would the armour keep her safe if she tried to go fighting bad guys or something silly like that? Her mind was already starting to think of improvements she could make to it, to make sure her little girl came back in one piece.  
"Huh," she said. "So that's how Papi felt."


End file.
